The Prestigious WTA Awards and Achievements

The WTA Awards is one of the most awaited announcements in the international tennis world. The Women’s Tennis Association was formed in 1973, but the year 1977 saw the beginning of the WTA Awards to recognise the most outstanding players of each season. Some of these achievements have been given to deserving players since 1977 while the others are recent additions due to the growing number of tennis players, enthusiasts, and fans all over the globe.

The WTA Awards are chosen either by the media, the players, WTA and the Tournaments themselves, and the fans through voting. Let’s take a look at these celebrated WTA Awards and some of the most remarkable tennis players who received them:

Chosen by the Media

Player of the Year
Doubles Team of the Year
Most Improved Player
Newcomer of the Year
Comeback Player of the Year

These awards are perhaps the most important career-booster for the players of WTA. Highly popularised by the international media, these awards give high status to their recipients. Steffi Graf is now regarded a tennis icon for winning the highest number of Player of the Year award, not to mention her Grand Slams and other notable achievements. Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova are considered one of the best doubles team in the history of tennis, having won for 8 consecutive years from 1981-88. The Most Improved Player and Newcomer of the Year both highlight the emerging players of the season – players everyone in the tennis industry should watch out for.

Chosen by the Players

Peachy Kellymeyer Player Service
Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship
Tournament of the Year/Premier
Tournament of the Year/International

The Peachy Kellymeyer Player Service was named after a perpetual tennis icon – Peachy Kellymeyer. She had received numerous awards during her heyday in the 1950s and went on to be an administrator who is now known as an icon who changed the face of women’s tennis forever. Karen Krantzcke was an Australian tennis player who, in her short career, attained a World Top Ten singles ranking in 1970. She died of heart attack while jogging during the 1977 USA Challenger circuit and the WTA named the sportsmanship award in her honour.

Chosen by WTA and the Tournaments

Diamond Aces

This WTA award started in 1995 and was named after Jerry Diamond, the late WTA trailblazer who was very dedicated to association and the tennis industry at large. Diamond Aces is awarded to tennis players who work endlessly to promote tennis on and off the court. The current title holder is Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, now in her second consecutive winning streak of Diamond Aces.

Chosen by the Fans

Fan Favourite Singles Player of the Year
Fan Favourite Doubles Team of the Year
Fan Favourite Twitter
Fan Favourite Facebook
Fan Favourite Video
Fan Favourite WTA Live Show
Fan Favourite Shot of the Year
Fan Favourite Match of the Year

These Fan Favourites are a recent addition to WTA’s growing roster of awards; some started in 2009 while the others just began this season. They were made possible by the increasing online fan base of WTA and voting is usually done across social media platforms and certain online voting systems. Maria Sharapova proves really popular to fans all over the world and she bagged numerous awards this year such as the Twitter and Facebook Fan Favourite. Her match against Victoria Azarenka was also named the 2013 Fan Favourite Match of the Year.